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Rhetorical, or not, this is a good question. I agree that documenting participation in a mail art call in some way is an important acknowledgement of contributors' efforts. Saying 'thank you' online or via return mail art is one courtesy to which we should cling. IUOMA's features certainly make it easy for us. I personally enjoy this aspect of networking and appreciate the effort that it takes.

@ the personal/private thing is ironic. We post our personal mail for the world to see. I do mail people things that are personal & just include a note explaining best not to blog. I don't think any of this is a big deal. Give people freedom & let them be free.

I very much enjoy seeing work by all the different artists at IUOMA on blogs & in the gallery as well as all the personal & collective blogs outside IUOMA. I think it greatly helps the exchange of ideas too. I very much appreciate seeing this work by Carina & Marie, for instance.

I think the mail-art vs. technology thing is beating a dead horse. The network is both on the net & sending mail. A Luddite faction is cool, of course, if that's what you're into.

The real question is, will blogs survive? Things are moving to Facebook. The 30 & 40 year mail-art veterans are all posting on Facebook like fiends, it seems to me.

Rebecca, I agree with Visual Mom that documentation of what we send and what we receive is an important part of networking, and is a traditional element of mail art. That said, documentation needn't be in the form of a blog. I don't have a mail art blog myself, but I am "religious" about posting pictures, comments, and my appreciation here on the IUOMA website (and occasionally on Facebook), and I send personal thank-you notes to the artists. I keep photo albums here on the site labelled "from me" and "to me" and visual documentation is always posted in those albums for future reference by me and anyone who cares to browse them. Thanks for staying on the hook!

Mailart does concern itself with developing a network of mailartists and blogging mailart images is another tool to help develop that network by allowing more people to see what you or other correspondents are up to, but it's certainly not necessary. Documentation of incoming mailart that results from mailart calls is where a blog is most helpful these days.

(This wannabe Hamlet doesn't blog, but he writes a personal thank you to everyone who sends him stuff. He thinks that the Mail Art he receives is a personal communication between the sender and himself, and respects the confidentiality inherent in that. As you well know he doesn't show off his or others' works, and limits himself as to the type of comments he makes, and so... [Voice offstage: Stop!]

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